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sitanshi talati-parikh

sitanshi talati-parikh

Category Archives: Sustainability

Who Stole The Dupatta?

31 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Crafts Revival Trust - Ritu Sethi, Dupatta, Fashion, Good Earth, Nicobar, Payal Khandwala, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion

Published: The Voice of Fashion, October 31, 2018.

Is the dupatta today relegated to being an emblem of archaic femininity and an ornamental accessory?

The dupatta, an iconic part of the Indian fashion lexicon, has lost its original raison d’être and has seen a transformation in urban India, to become a modern fashion accessory. The soft fabric worn flowing over the shoulders may have been often picturised romantically, as billowing gently—and occasionally coyly—in the breeze, but is, in reality, an exaggerated symbol of captive femininity and more importantly, female modesty. An integral part of the fabric of Indian society, conventionally, it forms a ‘ghoonghat’ or veil as a mark of respect in front of elders and at a place of worship, or protection from the unwanted male gaze.

The Creative Destruction

Connected to traditional garments of the Indian subcontinent like the lehenga-choli and the salwar kameez, the origin of the dupatta has been traced to the Indus Valley civilization. As the garment celebrates local embroidery and craftsmanship, for someone working in the handloom industry, the evolution of the dupatta is worrisome. Ritu Sethi, chairperson of the Crafts Revival Trust, addresses the change: “I delight in the fact that the original function of covering one’s head and bosom is no longer required, yet paradoxically, as a purist, I moan its passing.” She explains, “The lighter, airier weave of a dupatta is different from the rest of the suit length—reflecting in the elegance of its fall and drape, and its border and two-sided pallus. The yarn is produced specifically for the dupatta. What are the weavers shifting to if the demand wanes? Not to mention, a textile directory is vanishing before our eyes—a classic example of creative destruction.”

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Designer Payal Khandwala may not see it as a dead end though. “With the printed dupatta in synthetic fabrics replacing its hand-woven counterpart, the weaving community was already struggling. With more attention to hand-woven textiles and slow fashion in general—whether it is for scarves, garments or even home furnishings—we can certainly compensate for this shift and the subsequent loss of revenue from the traditional dupatta.”

And yet, Deepshikha Khanna, head of apparel at Good Earth Sustain shares that the traditional dupatta forms their highest selling category. She says, “Its use has definitely not dwindled. For as long as we continue to wear our traditional clothes the existence of the dupatta will remain relevant.” Tina Tahliani-Parikh, executive director of multi-brand boutique Ensemble, finds the dupatta remains an intrinsic part of the Indian outfit. She says, “It is a very feminine element, so I don’t see it getting replaced. Younger girls may wear a lehenga choli without the dupatta, but with the older, more mature customers, there is no question of the dupatta not being there. A Mughal-style Anarkali would be incomplete without the dupatta.

The Transformation

Khandwala, whose garments keep the dupatta optional, stresses on expressing individuality versus conforming. “The difference is we have the choice now to wear the dupatta simply for the romance of it or for its drama, rather than as a symbol of modesty.” She finds that the change may have taken place for multiple reasons—including the need to push boundaries creatively, to make the fashion landscape less homogenous, attention to comfort and practicality and a need to redefine what is handed down in the name of tradition.

The dupatta has most definitely evolved—from two-and-a-half to two-metre variants that flow on both shoulders; to the shorter stole which falls on one shoulder only, and to an even shorter square scarf that may be worn on the neck, on the head as a bandana, or tied to a handbag as a visual accessory. Lifestyle brand Nicobar, that looks to establish a modern Indian voice, has a range of diaphanous Chanderi overlays and jackets that alternatively dress up or bring traditional texture to a Western outfit. It may not be wrong to assume that in this case, the dupatta has been entirely eliminated and replaced by an overlay.

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Khanna points out that as style evolves so does the use of clothing. “A kurta which was once conservative is now worn over a swimsuit to a beach. Similarly, a dupatta, which is very versatile, is now a scarf, a sarong or a halter top. Globally, traditional weaves like Ikat or Mughal motifs are seen on dupattas that have been adopted as scarves and have become a part of Western ensembles. It is an iteration of the dupatta seen in a different context. While its early reasons for existence needed an update as the women wearing it have evolved, one finds that Indian women continue to stay attached to their traditions but adapt them to suit a more global lifestyle.”

Clothing, in the manner of art and music, reflects socio-cultural changes—which is marked in how we choose to present ourselves with the new-found freedom to express. In that sense, the dupatta’s transformation is a sign of the times, where women are no longer required to be ‘modest’. And as for its evolution, as Khandwala puts it, “To simply repackage old ideas makes fashion stagnant and predictable. It is just as important to suggest alternatives that define the future.” And the dupatta today remains, free-flowing, open to interpretation and boundless in its versatility as it floats away from patriarchal tradition.

Crafting Wearables: Fashion’s New Frontier

24 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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3D Garments, ArtEZ, Eco-friendly, Fabric From Waste, Interactive Clothing, Lab-grown Leather, Stella McCartney, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion, Wearable Solar

Published: Biology, Technology, Fashion in The Voice of Fashion, October 24, 2018

It’s a time of grand intersections, and we could soon be wearing garments that were once alive in some form or could charge your mobile on the go

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Fashion’s new frontier is taking nature’s methodology and applying it to create new materials in an interdisciplinary approach, moving organically towards possibilities and dynamic solutions to problems that are rife in the fashion industry today, including waste, over-production and non-biodegradable materials.

The first manifestation of the collaboration between British designer Stella McCartney and California-based biotech company, BOLT Threads, using manmade vegan silk, Microsilk, was on display at The Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition, ‘Items: Is Fashion Modern?’ earlier this year. A similar garment is currently on view in, ‘Fashioned From Nature’, at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum until January 27, 2019.

“We live in a very special time in history, a rare time, a time when the confluence of four fields is giving designers access to tools we’ve never had access to before. These fields are computational design, allowing us to design complex forms with simple code; additive manufacturing, letting us produce parts by adding material rather than carving it out; materials engineering, which lets us design the behaviour of materials in high resolution; and synthetic biology, enabling us to design new biological functionality by editing DNA,” said American–Israeli architect, designer, and professor at the MIT Media Lab, Neri Oxman, at a TED 2015 event.

Traditionally, scientists would initiate innovations in materials, fabrics, or technology, after which, designers would step in. “This is not a very productive and effective way of collaboration—since the designer can help direct scientific innovation towards a desirable product,” says Jose Teunissen, the curator for the recently-concluded State of Fashion 2018 exhibit in Arnhem, Netherlands. Teunissen, who is also a Professor of Fashion Theory at the University of the Arts London and Dean of London College of Fashion, explains, “As scientists and designers start to work on the challenges with the aim to make the planet and our living better, they both work from their own expertise, while also learning to collaborate at an early stage, learning each other’s’ language and philosophy to understand that both disciplines have specific knowledge that can contribute to a solution.”

One of the interdisciplinary and collaborative projects showcased at the State of Fashion 2018, ‘The Future of Living Materials’, started from the observation that designers have begun working with new kinds of biomaterials, such as mycelium, fruit leather, or with bacteria that produce colour. “We believe that fashion is in dire need of more value-based critical thinking as well as critical (design) practices to explore, disrupt, redefine and transform the system. In addition, we believe that research through artistic and creative practices leads to new insights regarding urgent societal challenges,” says Dr Danielle Bruggeman, Professor of Fashion, at the ArtEZ University of the Arts, Arnhem.

Picking some innovative collaborations in the fashion industry:

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Pauline van Dongen’s wearable solar garments

Wearable Solar Garments
Dutch designer Pauline van Dongen has designed a range of garments as a part of the on-going collaborative research project ‘Wearable Solar’, which aims to create garments that can harness the sun’s energy. It is designed with transformable silhouettes, where side panels that contain the arrays of solar cells can be folded towards the body. A smartphone can be connected using the cable in one of the side pockets. In bright sunlight, it will be fully charged in roughly two hours. In a practical application, Van Dongen and sustainable clothing brand Blue LOOP Originals have also designed a garment that could provide tour guides with solar energy and shelter them from the wind and water.

Lab-grown Leather
Modern Meadow, a New York startup, has been experimenting with cultured animal cells and tissues to create an alternative biomaterial to traditional leather. This lab-grown leather could offer a more sustainable alternative and could eliminate defects generally seen in leather while controlling properties such as durability, elasticity, strength and water resistance. Meanwhile, Dutch product designer, Tjeerd Veenhoven, has invented AlgaeFabric, an H&M Global Change Award winner 2015, through which vegan leather can be made from algae, which by their nature form a sustainable source.

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Mycelium Materials
Dutch company Fungi Fashion combines 3D technology with mycelium (mushroom roots), producing custom-made clothes out of this new natural fibre that is sustainably grown in a lab. Once worn out, the garments can be simply buried in the ground to decompose. MycoTEX, as the fabric is known, by NEFFA, is 100 per cent biodegradable and is an H&M Global Change Award winner. Earlier this year, BOLT Threads released a material called Mylo, grown in New York by the biomaterials company Ecovative, made from mycelium cells dyed with English Breakfast tea, which forms the base material for leather bags.

Fabric from Food Waste
Innovative fabrics have been developed putting to use waste from the food industry. For example, discarded Amazonian freshwater fish skin becomes leather by Brazilian luxury brand, Osklen. Italian silk manufacturer, Canepa, has created the SAVEtheWATER® Kitotex® project in partnership with CNR-ISMAC Biella, where the polymer from the exoskeleton of shrimp forms the fibre. The Italian company, Orange Fiber, winner of the H&M Global Change Award 2016, has created sustainable fabrics from citrus juice by-products that would otherwise be thrown away—Salvatore Ferragamo is the first fashion house to employ Orange Fiber fabrics. UK-based eco-fashion designers VIN + OMI have been focusing on eco-processes and textile development since 2004, including a plant-based textile ‘leather’ made from chestnuts.

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Digital Fabrication and 3D
Japanese designer Yuima Nakazato’s ‘Freedom’ collection created a system by using digital fabrication that allows various materials—like cotton, wool, and nylon—to be combined freely, without the use of needles and threads. Unlike the usual method of making sewn clothes, the 3D Unit Constructed Textile can be adjusted to the size and shape of a garment to create a precise fit to the wearer’s figure.

Meanwhile, a dress from avant-garde Dutch designer, Iris van Herpen’s Spring 2018 haute couture collection, ‘Ludi Naturae’, is made from innovative material ‘foliage’, the result of a collaboration with the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in which leaf-like patterns are 3D printed as thin as 0.8 mm. Then tulle is laid into the 3D printer to print directly onto the fabric, creating exceptional softness.

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The Future Footwear Foundation develops alternative ways of footwear that are sustainable for the environment and body. Shoes usually do not reflect the natural shape of your feet. 3D-printed and made-to-measure footwear—inspired by indigenous handcrafted footwear like the Kolhapuri chappal—are slated to be out in the market by the end of this year, commercialised by Vivobarefoot, London, U.K.

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Interactive Clothing
Canadian designer, Ying Gao, focuses on the relationship between the wearer and the garment, as well as the relationship with one’s environment, in ‘Possible Tomorrows’. A design was developed from a series of algorithms associated with the realm of pattern recognition. Her interactive dresses respond to the touch of others; the material is only activated in the presence of strangers whose fingerprints are not recognised by the material—latently addressing notions of privacy and individualism.

 

Fashion Retail: Does Sustainability Matter?

18 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Bungalow Eight, Ensemble, Fashion Retailers, Nicobar, Paper Boat Collective, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion, Toile

Published: The Voice of Fashion, October 18, 2018

Is sustainable retail an oxymoron? We speak to five retailers to see how they weigh in.

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As the buzz around sustainable fashion grows, how many conversations involve that of the retailer? One of the key elements of the sustainable fashion conversation is to reduce the economy of excess and to encourage people to buy less. And therein lies the dichotomy—can a person who is necessarily driven by the bottom line, be motivated to make these choices?

Finding a Sustainable Retailer

And therefore, can there be a sustainable retailer or is it an oxymoron? Maithili Ahluwalia, founder of multi-brand fashion boutique in Mumbai, Bungalow Eight, points out that the day you are a retailer, your model is built around unsustainability because your basic premise is to sell as much as you can—whether it is season-less or handloom products. She says, “It is hard to say that you are sustainable unless you control the entire process from yarn to finished product. You could claim consciousness or partial sustainability but perhaps, ‘selling sustainable luxury’ is only valid when you have an in-built anti-consumerist ethic, control the entire supply chain and plough back resources into the ecosystem in a circular economy.”

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Bhagyashree Patwardhan, founder and creative director of slow-fashion boutique, Paper Boat Collective, Goa, which veers towards ‘natural’ over ‘sustainable’, believes that “sustainability’ and ‘organic’ are big words and as much as one tries, a hundred percent adherence to it as a retailer is difficult.”

Is there a point then to the dialogue on retail and sustainability? Simran Lal, co-founder of pan-India lifestyle brand Nicobar (and CEO of Good Earth), says, “We don’t claim to be sustainable because it is open to interpretation and there are so many parameters to it. We believe we are a conscious and mindful brand vis-a-vis a sustainable brand. We care about what, how and why we do things and are constantly reflecting on our actions.” And what about an anti-consumerist ethic? Lal says, “Although it does seem like a contradiction, at Nicobar, we have always wanted to encourage thoughtful consumption. Buy less, pay the right amount for the product so that the entire value chain is well taken care of—and thus the quality is superior, waste is less and that is, in my opinion, a conscious way of creating, retailing and consuming.”

Steps Taken

What is it that a conscious retailer can do? Pick the right kind of goods to stock, for one. Patwardhan states that Paper Boat Collective offers handmade products in natural materials, working with small designers, suppliers and manufacturers, who in turn work with smaller craftspeople or use resources that are sustainable. “This allows us a way to build a backend integrated towards sustainable and fair-trade practices.”

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Tina Tahiliani-Parikh, executive director, multi-brand boutique, Ensemble (Mumbai and Delhi) drives initiatives that are embedded in craft—“It is very important that we keep our craft and handloom movements alive in this country. We should not go the way of Japan, where the Kimono is relegated to a ceremonial garment. Ensemble is an active supporter of the handloom sari; and we, right from the start, support a lot of young designers whose raison d’etre is sustainable fashion.”

Toile, Paper Boat Collective and Nicobar have taken it a step further into elements like decor, packaging and materials, respectively. Farheen B Rahman, co-founder of eco-fashion store, Toile (Mumbai), says they use coir for their walls and have upcycled an old Singer machine as their billing counter; while Patwardhan uses recyclable packaging materials, less paper, natural cleaning products, hardly any plastic and also aims to be zero-waste.

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At Nicobar, Lal lists initiatives like offering timeless garments in organic cotton, going plastic-bottle free, reusing packing cartons multiple times and paperless invoicing. She says, “Through our collaborative cafe, NicoCaara, we have created a menu with fresh, chemical-free produce grown at the farm of our partners, Caara, or by supporting local artisanal suppliers who in turn, believe in practising and supporting sustainable businesses.”

The Challenges

Perhaps the strongest hit a committed retailer may take is on the bottom line. Rahman admits that the turnover is very different compared to fast fashion. She says, “It is a slow process. We have refused designers who differed in ideology even though their designs were good and saleable, and those who projected themselves as sustainable but were not.”

Lal is struggling with finding sustainable packaging materials that are “affordable and consistent for delicate and fragile products to be shipped.” She says, “We are currently experimenting with different types, and are willing to take a hit on our margins to make packaging more sustainable.”

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Parikh states that there has been only a marginal increase in consumer awareness towards sustainable fashion. She says, “It is a conversation. A first-time shopper may not buy into the sustainable philosophy immediately. But once they acquire a couple of garments and experience the longevity of the garment, or they are in the ecosystem, they begin to change their minds. It is a very gradual process.”

Creativity and Effort

A little creative effort goes a long way. Celebrating season-less attire, limited production with a curated and thoughtful supply chain, use of non-toxic and biodegradable materials, elimination of waste and being conscious of the carbon footprint. Maybe an upcycling or recycling station at the retail front.

Yvon Chouinard, founder of the American apparel and outdoor gear label Patagonia, reminds his customers in New-York-based publication, The Usual: “Think twice before you buy a product from us. Do you really need it or are you just bored and want to buy something?”

As is the case with a sustainable supply chain, this requires a willingness on the part of the retailer to buy into the philosophy, the knowledge that this is critical to our future and the acceptance that there will be, at least initially, a monetary fallback. And if the consumer isn’t demanding it, perhaps the onus lies on the retailer to open up a fresh dialogue to create a conscious consumer and a responsive demand.

The Designer-Activist of the Sunderbans

11 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Atelier OM, Muslin Khadi, Ondi McMaster-Chullil, Sunderbans, Sunderbans Khadi Village Industrial Society, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion

Published: The Voice of Fashion, October 11, 2018

The Sunderbans in West Bengal is a UNESCO World heritage site, with many endangered species and the world’s largest coastal mangrove forest. Located in the southern part of the mangrove region, amid the wild tales of flora and fauna, is a contained community that uses the natural resources to be self-sufficient. Four local women, Bulu Raha, Anima Mondal, Sushuma Mistry and Shephali Roy—who technically live outside Kolkata and also make Canning town their base—were mentored by a social worker, Prakriti Roy, who was working with spinners and weavers at that time. In 1975, at the age of 18, Shephali went to Roy for a job. Instead, he guided her in creating a self-sufficient fair-trade women’s organisation, the Sunderban Khadi Village Industrial Society (SKVIS), of which she is now vice president. In 1981, SKVIS began exports post their first sample order from Holland. While the women—who are well-schooled and have good communication skills—have the combined skill sets of weaving, spinning, dyeing, design and tailoring, their local orders largely remain printing jobs.

Natural Dye Master SuramaNatural-dye master, Surama, in the Sunderbans

Finding a Local Voice

Ondi McMaster-Chullil, a believer in indigenous design and sustainability, has explored the talent of the women of SKVIS in her local handcrafted eco-ethical label, Atelier OM. She sources products like muslin khadi and stoles from them, has worked on batik designs and researched natural dyeing of fabric with them. An American raised in California, she spent two years in India in the mid 1990s studying regional crafts and returned in 2010 on an Art Karavan, as a part of a performance installation art movement, starting in Shantiniketan and travelling across nine cities in nine weeks. After working for Issey Miyake and as a costume designer in film and television in New York, her return to India was an entrepreneurial turning point. In 2011, she began her own sustainable label; she keeps a seasonal shop called OMkhadi in North Goa, while retailing out of stores in India and worldwide, including Paperboat Collective and Sacha’s Shop in Goa, Artisans in Mumbai and Good Earth (Delhi, Mumbai).

McMaster-Chullil discovered the local Sunderbans’ community out of a desire to see the areas from where the raw materials are produced. She believes, “If you are a designer in India, you should live beside them and see what it means to make those products. From bumpy roads and tiger-eating stories to destitution…but what you do have is something that’s truly authentic—people are willing to survive and make really beautiful products out there.”

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Ondi at OMKHADI shop event

Building a Support Network

Having travelled to the location several times over the last few years, McMaster-Chullil now considers the four women of the Sunderbans to be her close friends. With no infrastructure or hotels in the remote area, she lives in their homes. “(Prakriti) Roy saw in them the attraction towards working for something more meaningful in their life than just being mothers. These four women have formed an amazing network and support system for many women there.” Today, SKVIS trains young girls; works towards social implementation and is an enabler with a micro-finance setup for 500 local women.

The concept of a community and its well-being is strong—the driving force is not the ego, profits or monopolisation. It is to work with and develop the natural resources towards a greater good. With fashion being the second largest pollutant after oil, and an industry that has now become infamous for low-wage mass production of goods, designers that take up the baton as activists attempt to bring order and stability in a skewed universe. McMaster-Chullil believes that a “designer-activist” has to have integrity, moral fibre, and a deep understanding of the situation. “I will make the decisions that are beneficial for the people that I am working with. After which, I make the decisions for the planet that I am living on. What I am interested in is the people—investing in relationships by working together and watching each other grow.”

Batik UnitBatik unit in the Sunderbans

At the risk of romanticising, McMaster-Chullil describes the community of SKVIS: “Women working in the way of village life: children sitting next to their mothers as they have a meeting, women spinning with children lying on their laps…no deadline or rush; it is one of the beautiful stories in India of female entrepreneurship.” And yet, it is a modern Indian story, because these women have the freedom to be entrepreneurial and are respected for what they do. “They have much less than others, and yet are happy, content and grateful. They are not excessive, they live within their means. It comes down to simplicity. The vision of the future isn’t an industrialised one.”

Eri Khadi’s Australian Outing

04 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Assam, Fabric Social, Northeast India, Srishty Handlooms, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion

Published: The Voice of Fashion, October 4, 2018

The Fabric Social sells Assamese peace silk to the Australian market with an aim to bring work to post-conflict communities back home

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How is an online ethical fashion brand with a tagline, ‘Fair Couture’, different from others attempting to capture the attention of the conscious consumer through similar claims? Targeting the Australian market, and run by three women living in different parts of the world, Fabric Social is social-impact driven and works with producers who may have been overlooked in mainstream fashion.

Says Fiona McAlpine, the San-Francisco-based co-founder, “We focus on working with women in post-conflict communities who are trying to rebuild.” According to McAlpine, Northeast India is a place that most Australians can’t even point to on a map. “It is a blind spot in our worldview: the hundreds of extrajudicial executions and war-widow stories are not something many people know about,” she adds.

Post Conflict And Peace

And yet, to its consumer, the brand pitches its sustainable credentials rather than the upliftment of conflict-areas. McAlpine explains, “It (Northeast India) is difficult to use as a hook. And it is hard to link these depressing stories to the desirability of a sexy, fashion-forward product. That we use peace silk, non-toxic dyes and Khadi cotton—elements framed within a common understanding of environmental sustainability—is a much easier story to tell. You almost have to sneak in the conflict story.”

The Fabric Social is inspired by McAlpine’s project with Binalakshmi Nepram, who started the Manipur Women Gun Survivors Network using weaving as a peacebuilding and income-generating tool for conflict widows. Says McAlpine, “We wanted to partner these traditional fabric-making skills with minimalist western designs and sell these resulting garments to the Australian market, where they would fetch a more fitting price point.”

The Eri-Khadi Route

The Fabric Social collaborates with local organizations like Siami x Siami and Srishti Handlooms (connected to Srishti NGO) from Mizoram and Assam. Srishti Handlooms—an ethical fashion organisation located in Lakwa, Sivasagar—creates Fabric Social’s flagship fabric, which is an Eri-khadi blend. Once the fabric has been made, it is sent to Kolkata—to Sasha, a World Fair Trade accredited not-for-profit organisation—where the producers soften, dye and tailor each garment by hand before shipping the finished piece abroad.

While Srishti Handlooms is nine years old, their partnership with Fabric Social began in 2015. When Fabric Social first came to visit, Srishti’s looms lay dormant. Says Khamseng Bohagi, who handles Srishti NGO’s PR and social media, “We started out with five weavers, four helpers and three ladies. We began with fabric-making, which led to the Eri-and-khadi yarn blend. After three months of trial and error, we produced 200 meters of fabric in 30 days with five looms.” Now, the NGO has 300 weavers across three centres and is capable of self-sustaining and taking independent orders in the local market.

Connecting The Dots

McAlpine, Melbourne-based Sharna de Lacy, and their first volunteer, Seattle-based Megan Schipp, had to be hands-on initially. De Lacy lived in Shillong for the first two years of the project and did quality-checks. Today, they work on the designs collaboratively from their respective cities and visit the production centres only once a year.

While McAlpine notes that arduous and expensive certification processes pose a difficulty, she says, “We just trust the women we work with, we are thorough in our impact reporting and open about the fact that—because Khadi is stockpiled and then redistributed—our cotton supply chain is not transparent.” Meanwhile, their silk can be traced from worm to postbox. “Our Eri silk is made from the discarded cocoons of the Eri moth, so it is just really old-school upcycling. Eri silk might be the greenest fabric money can buy: it’s not chemically-produced like rayon or bamboo, and it is not water-intensive like cotton.”

India, The Land Of Makers

Mira, one of Fabric Social’s weavers, wishes to save up for an at-home loom to teach unemployed women in her village how to weave. Fabric Social is interested in community building that goes beyond income generation: from bicycles for the increased mobility of women to digital literacy.

Besides the fact that the customers are almost entirely based in Australia (with some in New Zealand and the US) why haven’t people in India heard of it? “Our price points are not competitive for a market where handmade silk is readily available. Handwoven Assamese peace silk is still a novelty item in Australia, and quite hard to come by. We would love to sell in the Indian boutique market—Indian women have an extremely sharp eye when it comes to fashion.”

McAlpine first came to India at the age of seven, and later at 19 to teach English in Sikkim, returning annually after that. She says, “I love that you can walk into any neighbourhood and get an outfit made from scratch. For an outsider, it is something really special: the fact that India is undyingly a country of makers, of artists, of innovators. That craftsmanship culture is almost entirely lost in Australia where I’m from, and in the US where I live.”

A Fair Swap

28 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Clothes Swap, Fairtrunk, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion, SwapStitched

Published: The Voice of Fashion, September 28, 2018

Mumbai will witness its first-ever clothes swap at Fairtrunk Offline’s third and to-date biggest sustainable event

On October 6, Mumbai is going to see what is potentially the city’s first official clothes swap. While traditionally hand-me-downs are a part of the fabric of Indian society, swapping clothes has not yet made it to accepted fashionista parlance. Bursting wardrobes and the ongoing dialogue on sustainable fashion encourage the thought that a pre-loved garment in good condition that one may have outgrown—in terms of size, fit, style or interest—may work wonderfully for someone else.

Dhawal Mane, Global Fashion Exchange (GFX) Ambassador for India, who has organised three such swaps (called SwapStitched) in Bengaluru, the most recent being September 22, is ready to take the concept to other cities. In Fairtrunk Offline—an event-based offshoot of the slow-fashion digital marketplace, Fairtrunk—Mane has found a worthy platform to partner with. He says: “I would like to see more people embracing swapping and bartering as a form of consumption. It is a mindset shift: from ownership to access, albeit mindfully.” For the Mumbai swap, Seams For Dreams (SFD), a charity organisation by actress Evelyn Sharma, will be sharing some pre-loved, gently used clothing items by designers, and all the leftover clothing items will be donated to the ones in need by SFD.

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Vast Creative Possibilities

India witnessed—what Mane states is—probably the country’s biggest swap when he got inspired by the GFX’s global swap event during the worldwide movement, Fashion Revolution Week 2018. Mane went on to become the local ambassador for swaps and organised the first swap event in Bengaluru, where 150 items of clothing were traded among 60 attendees in four hours. So far, 190 items have been swapped, among 85 people from Bengaluru, while diverting approximately 150 kg of clothing from a landfill or an incinerator. These swaps are also a part of the 1 million pound partnership with GFX, which is the quantity of clothing that GFX aims to save from ending up in a landfill in 2018.

SwapStitched events are scheduled to take place in Bengaluru once every two months on weekends, in different locations. Says Mane: “While the number of attendees is increasing with every swap, we also have repeat swappers because it is a fun process exploring different designs from in-season to vintage, providing infinite creative possibilities of styling an outfit—where no two products will be the same—while being light on the pocket.”

Building a Slow Fashion Community

SwapStitched is only one of the events that Fairtrunk Offline is organising in its day-long event at Pioneer Hall in Bandra. In the past, Fairtunk Offline has held two events, the most recent being a part of Fashion Revolution week in April, and included a documentary screening, blogger meet-up, panel discussions, and an upcycling workshop. Its third edition will be the largest Fairtrunk Offline event to date, which will include a curated slow-fashion pop-up with 25 young brands across fashion and lifestyle, workshops with designers like Anuj Sharma from Button Masala and talks on sustainable fashion. The decor is planned with upcycled fabric. Darshana Gajare, founder of Fairtrunk and Fairtrunk Offline, expects a turnout of two to three thousand people.

5bae00d9185f4Msafiri, One of the brands showing at the pop-up.

Fairtrunk Offline was launched to increase awareness about sustainable fashion, creating experiences and building a mindful community, as evidenced in their #SlowTheFuckDown campaign. Gajare started both projects last year, after watching ‘The True Cost’, a documentary on the global effects of fast fashion. While spreading awareness about sustainability, Gajare discovered that consumers were asking for alternate options. This led to her launching an online marketplace, which now gives space to over 30 slow-fashion brands.

The lack of transparency, regulation and accountability in India forced Gajare to do her own groundwork in the selection of the brands. Being bootstrapped means that she can’t physically go to review each supply chain, but she “takes the time to meet and understand the brand ethos and to gauge if they are invested in the cause.” While admitting that it is not a foolproof method, her work as a part of the Fashion Revolution India team helps give her the muscle to evaluate brands and spread the word.

Event details: October 6, 10am-10pm, Pioneer Hall, Bandra, Mumbai. Insider link here, Facebook link here.

Swap Rules

You can bring up to 10 pieces of good quality, unwanted clothing. (Socks, underwear, lingerie, nightwear, pyjamas are not allowed.) Every item will be checked for quality, only approved pieces will make it to the swap floor. You get a coupon for an accepted piece of clothing that you have brought which can be used to pick up another piece of clothing that you want or retained for another swap event. Read more here.

The Story Of Scrap

19 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Chiharu Shiota, Doodlage, Fashion, Ka-Sha, Kishmish, Scrap, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion, Tenant of Culture, The Voice of Fashion, Tilla

Published: The Voice of Fashion, September 19, 2018

Few zero-waste fashion labels are giving discarded fabric a new lease of life

Screen Shot 2018-09-22 at 1.59.09 PMBanner photo, from left to right: Doodlage, Tilla, Ka-sha by Karishma Shahani Khan

While consumer waste and the need to upcycle and recycle are ongoing and pertinent dialogues, how do designers in the fashion industry set a standard by being thrifty with the waste from their own manufacturing process? Scrap may be defined as the textile remnants left behind during the design and manufacturing of garments. In the garment districts of Dhaka, the jhut are left in go-downs (where fires are a regular occurrence), sold at the curb, dumped reaching landfills, or burned, causing immense pollution. Kriti Tula, of the upcycling label, Doodlage points out: “Approximately 120 billion square metres of fabric end up as waste in India, China, Bangladesh alone, and this does not include garment rejections during quality checks. Considering cotton takes one to five months to decompose while polyester sits around for 200 years, fabric scraps need to be managed better.” On an average, the Delhi-based Doodlage upcycles up to 600 kilograms of waste fabric every month—working with post-cutting waste, fabrics discarded for small defects and rejected garments.

The Art of Upcycling
All garments are cut from fabrics which come in rectangular panels, leading to up to 16 percent of the fabric being thrown away in cutting and stitching processes. This is the raw material for designers keen on saving resources that would have otherwise gone into the production of virgin fabrics. Karishma Shahani Khan, the founder of Pune-based label Ka-Sha believes in negligible waste in an endeavour termed ‘Heart to Haat’. She uses fabric waste extensively in embroidery, footwear, patchwork, stuffed toys, macramé and bags; reaching out to friends and other designers in the industry for their scrap as well. When clients come to Shahani Khan for a bespoke piece, she first checks if there is anything in their wardrobe which could be reconstructed. Says the designer, “Upcycling gives something that could have lost its actual value a new meaning. It is a creative process to ensure longevity, which works best if the garments are of high quality and are made to last.”

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Designs for Longevity
Aratrik Dev Varman from the Ahmedabad-based slow-fashion label, Tilla, finds the waste from the cutting to be valuable because so much time and effort is invested into the sustainable textiles he uses for his garments. “Odd bits and pieces—like the negative spaces under the armholes or neck—tend to normally be discarded, but since we produce the fabric ourselves, we consider it precious, and we save it all.” Varman gives the scrap a new lease of life: all the fallout is immediately categorised according to colour or fabric into a ‘library of scrap’, while the design process involves parallel thinking about artfully using the textile along with the leftover bits. The designer doesn’t believe that there is any scrap that cannot be used, “Waste is the failure of the imagination,” he points out, using the mantra of Douglas McMaster, founder of a first-ever zero-waste restaurant called Silo, in Birmingham.

For the Mumbai-based duo, Rekha Bhati and Nikki Kali, from the sustainable label, Kishmish, leftover textiles—which are grouped into bundles or ‘potla-potlis’—are designed into thoughtful products, like clothing, scarves and bags, leading to a ‘Potla Potli’ collection.

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Historically, handcrafted garments were designed with thrift in mind: saris, dupattas come off the loom in that shape, styles like ponchos, anarkalis or kalidar clothes use artful cutting without waste, and in cultures like Japan, the Kimono as a garment uses narrow strips to make a whole. Austrian Lenzing Group’s innovative Refibra technology (launched last year) upcycles cotton scraps from garment production along with wood pulp into Tencel™ Lyocell fibres from which new clothes may be made—brands like Zara and Cone Denim (USA) have begun using it.

Scraps have their own non-linear life journey, and it may not be wrong to say that the garment is richer for it. Japanese artist, Chiharu Shiota, who has created installations out of well-worn dresses (Memory of Skin, Yokohama Triennale, 2001), has said in Chiharu Shiota – Memory of Books, in conversation with James Putnam: “I am not interested in using a new dress because there are no memories or stories inside it.”

London-based Hendrickje Schimmel working under the name, Tenant of Culture, archives found or damaged pieces of anonymous clothing—and through her work, attempts to extend the longevity of the products as opposed to discarding them. She is quoted in 1 Granary, a publication by the students of Central Saint Martins saying: “[…] We live in such a remix culture. I don’t really believe in authorship and so naturally I feel that an artwork or garment should have more than one lifecycle.”

Finding the Right Balance
Evidently, post and pre-consumer scraps are one of many practices of the fashion industry which are set to have a long-term impact on our environment and the world we live in. While they make a garment textured, can scrap solve the problem of the cutting waste from the fashion industry? The duo from Kishmish, like all the others attempting to make a difference with thoughtful design, agree: “If every fashion label upcycles, it will eventually create a balance between consumption and the earth’s regenerative capacities.” Says Tula, “The situation is slowly heading towards a point of no return and the only way to effect a change is to reform the mindset of those who create as well as those who buy.”

In Search of the Elusive Eco-Friendly Garment

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Eco-friendly, Fashion, Fashion Retailers, Fashion Revolution, Natural Dyes, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion, The Voice of Fashion, Upcycling

Published: The Voice of Fashion, September 12, 2018

Screen Shot 2018-09-13 at 4.00.26 PMPadmaja

The grande dame of fashion, British designer, Vivienne Westwood, said it simply to Newsbeat at London Fashion Week a few years ago: “Buy Less, Choose Well, Make It Last.”

Fashion is the biggest pollutant in the world after oil: clothing consumption produces 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per household per year—the equivalent of driving 6000 cars—as noted by the environmental documentary film, RiverBlue. 2700 litres of water are consumed in the production of a single T-shirt. Since countries with large fabric- and apparel-making industries rely mainly on fossil fuels for energy production, it is estimated that making 1 kilogram of fabric generates an average of 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases, as noted in a 2016 McKinsey article, Style That’s Sustainable.

There is a lack of transparency from luxury brands as well as fast fashion brands. For instance, it is not the case that paying more for clothes equals workers being paid well or given good working conditions.

What then makes a garment sustainable and how does a conscious consumer find one?

To begin with, research your favourite brands online to find out how they fare on the Fashion Transparency Index provided by UK-based global movement Fashion Revolution. The checklist below, while not comprehensive, helps understand the ways in which a garment impacts the world and what you can do to make better choices. Many labels noted below fall into multiple categories, but have been listed only once to avoid repetition.

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Natural Dyes or AZO-Free Chemical Dyes 
Toxic chemical dyes that contain Azo and fabric dyes heavy in lead, mercury and cadmium can reportedly cause cancer and sensory loss in humans and kill marine life. Look for garments that are made with natural dyes (using plant, insect or mineral bases), which are also healthier for the skin. Naturally-dyed garments must be handled carefully—they age and fade with time, so it is best to wash them in cold water with reetha (soap nut) or a mild detergent. Indian brands like Maku, Crow and Naushad Ali among others use natural dyes, while labels like Tilla also work with Azo-free chemical dyes. You can also opt for kora (undyed) garments from designers like Atelier OM and Suparna Som.

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Biodegradable or Organic Fabrics
Garments made from natural sources include organic fibres spun from seeds that do not require the use of pesticides or chemicals to grow and are biodegradable. Linen—used by labels like Anavila and Padmaja—made from the fibres of the flax plant is more sustainable and stronger than cotton. That Thou Art showcases garments cut from Pochampalli Cotton which is organic and naturally dyed, while No Nasties, like the name suggests, is a fair-trade organic label. Raymond has tied up with the Khadi and Village Industries Commission to hero handspun and handwoven khadi, while Anita Dongre’s Grassroots works with eco-friendly fibres.

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Recycled and Upcycled Materials 
These include fabric spin-offs from the non-biodegradable waste that could choke our planet. For example, the fibre ‘Nylon 6’, is made from 100 percent regenerated waste materials including reclaimed fishing nets. It is used in Swedish Stockings’ pantyhose as well as luxury brand Stella McCartney’s Falabella Go Backpacks. Indian label Doodlage’s entire collection is made from industrial waste and recycled materials. Whereas 11.11/eleven.eleven has a refurbished line which restores naturally-dyed indigo garments from their collections that didn’t make the first cut. Payal Khandwala makes accessories from recycled studio waste.

screen-shot-2018-09-13-at-4-02-55-pm.png

Handcrafted
Buying from local artisans and groups encourages diversity and grass-roots level craftsmanship including that of weavers, dyers and embroiderers. Many Indian designers are going back to the loom for weaving fabric (like Akaaro by Gaurav J Gupta, Raw Mango, Injiri and Tahweave), exploring artisanal embroidery techniques (like Pero and Sabyasachi) or printing (like Poochki, Anokhi). During Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort ‘18’s Sustainable Fashion Day, north-eastern designers showcased collaborative collections reviving local crafts.

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Low Carbon Footprint Including Energy Consumption 
Designers like Soham Dave have made the low carbon footprint of clothing a part of their manifesto. His Ahmedabad-based sustainable eponymous label uses negligible electricity in the manufacturing process, which is entirely by hand.

Fair Wages and Working Conditions
Look for labels that establish higher labour and environmental standards for suppliers and set up mechanisms to make supply chains more transparent. Behno was founded in New York by Shivam Punjya to improve the situation of female artisans in Gujarat with an ethical garment factory, MSA Ethos. Designer Samant Chauhan works for the cause of his native Bhagalpur (in Bihar) master weavers, Gaurang Shah works with over 700 weavers across India and The Goodloom By GOCOOP enables handloom cooperatives and artisans to connect directly with consumers. Eka works with reliable supply chains across various parts of the country. Globally, the software company EVRYTHNG and packaging maker Avery Dennison have together launched an effort to tag clothing so consumers can trace how individual items were produced all along the supply chain.

Waste and Toxicity Management
Fashion waste comes from water, fabric, materials and energy. Tencel®, a fabric by Austrian company Lenzing, is made from sustainably-harvested trees in a ‘closed-loop’ production cycle that recycles almost 100 percent of solvent. Rajesh Pratap Singh’s androgynous garments use Tencel. Labels like Purvi Kabra, Kishmish and Ka-Sha believe in zero fabric waste, and use all the fabric scrap towards garments or accessories.

Screen Shot 2018-09-13 at 4.03.18 PM

Classic and Seasonless
‘The average person buys 60 percent more items of clothing and keeps them for about half as long as was the case 15 years ago,’ noted last year’s Greenpeace report, ‘Fashion At Crossroads’. Invest in well-crafted classics and have a timeless appeal, and create new looks with layered clothing. Scandinavian designers have mastered functional garments, while local labels like Door of Maai and UK shirt brand that is made in India, Badger Badger, believe in trend-less clothing which is sustainable.

Screen Shot 2018-09-13 at 4.03.29 PM

Eco-Friendly Packaging
While most sustainable designers avoid plastic and recycle their fabric scrap into bags, some go the extra mile. Eco-ethical label Nadiya Paar’s price tags can be planted, which will grow into marigold plants, while Canadian eco-ethical brand, Matt and Nat (started by a vegan Indian) has tags that can be used as bookmarks.

screen-shot-2018-09-13-at-4-03-42-pm.png

Retailers 
While it is easiest to buy directly from sustainable designers online, reducing the retail footprint, curated stores like Janaki in Puducherry, Goa-based Paperboat Collective and Sasha’s Shop, Delhi’s Vayu at Bikaner House, Cinnamon, Raintree and Indelust in Bengaluru, Amethyst in Chennai, Byloom in Kolkata, Good Earth Sustain and Nicobar make an effort towards stocking sustainable products. Slow-fashion moving pop-ups like Pause For A Cause bring together young artisanal labels in a single space.

Disclaimer: The brand-related facts in this article, especially those with regards to fair wages and working conditions, are as reported by the labels and not verified by the publication.

Haute and Vegan

16 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Ethical Fashion, Gunas, PETA, Stella McCartney, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion, The Voice of Fashion, Vegan

Published: The Voice of Fashion, August 16, 2018

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While India’s tradition of khadi and cotton is cruelty-free, vegetarian or vegan consumers have been hard-pressed to find brands that deliver the same aesthetic of leather, with style and panache. Cheap alternatives are often made from poor quality and non-environmentally friendly plastics. These have begun to be replaced with durable and better quality manmade materials, which may consist of recycled or sustainable materials, or non-PVC polyurethane by brands that are conscious about ethical values as well as the ecological impact. A few of the brands that deliver the goods make the shortlist below, including some tried and tested favourites.

Stella McCartney: Pretty much anything from her collection has haute appeal, but above all she is a designer who is respected for spearheading the conversation about ethical fashion and walking the talk. Because of McCartney, ethical luxury is no longer an oxymoron. The Stella Star shoulder bags and the Stella Logo Hobo are winners from her latest collection. The hobo, available in a range of pop and muted colours takes alter-nappa to another level of sexy.

Gunas: Brought up between Ludhiana and Pune, Sugandh Agrawal founded Gunas in 2009 in New York, where she currently lives. She has invested years of research into finding the sweet spot between affordability and quality for a chic leather alternative. The Tippi Tote in a range of colours (though the mint shade is divine) is roomy, comfortable and well-crafted, while their recently-launched men’s bag crafted in MULBTEX™️  is made from mulberry leaves.

Jill Milan: Started by a vegan, Jill Frazer, the luxury bags are handcrafted in Italy and have been seen regularly on the international red carpets, carried by celebrities like Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence. Their stylish Newbury Street Portfolio from their latest collection looks like a trendy clutch, but the interior can accommodate an iPad.

Vendula London: Quirky, fun bags and accessories, they form creative scapes like English Garden, Sewing Shop and Prosecco Bar, with a layered, textured design. Theirbook-shaped coin purse will give the pickpocket a run for his money.

O bag: Hailing from Italy, these bags are customisable and also offer interchangeable handles and styles. Made of EVA polymer, they are waterproof, lightweight and resilient, with various conscious options. The O Bag mini herringbone from their Spring 2018 collection allows you to swap trims, handles and inner bags—changing the look of the same tote.

Piñatex is a strong and flexible textile made from pineapple leaves developed by Ananas Anam. Being an upscaled byproduct of waste, it is environmentally friendly. It is used in a range of products including ethical footwear, clothes, accessories and furnishing. This Things I Miss Giantletterbag and these Altiir neo-classic biker jackets are cool and functional.

Pelcor is a Portugal-based brand that offers cork skin products as a sustainable alternative to leather—cork being eco-friendly. Besides bags and shoes, they also have tech accessories like this laptop sleeve and pet products.

Plum is India’s first 100 percent vegan beauty brand that is priced sensitively and offers a range of products including the Angel Eyes Kohl Kajal which comes with an easy-blend smudger. Founded by an Indian chemical engineer, Shankar Prasad, and created in a London design studio, Plum is a sustainable brand using natural ingredients.

Matt and Nat’s Mitsuko in a range of pastel shades is a perfect office bag which can be slung or carried in the hand. It had me at the recycled cork label, recycled plastic bottles’ inner lining and the price tag that is also a bookmark. The quality is so good that it doesn’t disintegrate or wear out over time. The brand, started by an Indian in Canada, Inder Bedi in 1995, is a pioneer in the affordable cruelty-free accessories space, with exacting aesthetics. They have great options for men as well.

Save the Duck is a third-generation Italian brand creating cruelty-free outerwear. They replace goose-down feathers to line jackets with PLUMTECH® which keeps the jackets warm and light. The jackets, like this puffer vest, are easily foldable and great for travel. They have options for both genders.

Other online resources that cover clothing, shoes, accessories and beauty:

Ethica: An online retailer that gives the low-down on ethical fashion and emerging designers while offering a curated list of labels to shop from. Their ‘stories’ section keeps the dialogue alive.

Modavanti: Online retailer that speaks the language of sustainable and ethical fashion. They offer a unique ‘badge’ system—one of the eight badges is vegan—and for a brand to retail on this site, they need to have at least one of the badges.

Ethical Elephant: Started by animal welfare advocate Vicky Ly, the blog covers makeup, skincare and hair brands.

PETA.org: The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals keeps a tab on the cruelty-free brands and PETA Mall has a directory of them across fashion and beauty and including health and food. Countries have their own local PETA chapters as well.

The Natural Shade Card of Indian Fashion

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by sitanshi talati-parikh in Fashion & Style, Publication: The Voice of Fashion, Sustainability

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Anavila, Divya Sheth, Fashion, Kishmish, Maku, Natural Dyes, OmArts, RiverBlue, Ruby Ghaznavi, Soham Dave, Sustainability, Sustainable Fashion, The Voice of Fashion, Tilla

Published: The Voice of Fashion, July 23, 2018

Screen Shot 2018-07-24 at 1.10.36 PM

“If you travel where most of the world manufactures denim, you end up with having rivers that are turning blue,” says the founder of the premium Canadian brand Dutil Denim, Erik Dickstein, in the environmental documentary RiverBlue (2016). This is not the natural blue of beautiful Instagram travel photos but rather the harsh ‘filter’ of insoluble Azo dyes and hazardous chemicals like mercury, cadmium and lead from the fabric dyes used in the fashion industry. These chemicals are killing marine life and creating chronic illnesses like cancer and sensory loss in people.

While today most of the mass-manufactured clothes are made with toxic chemical dyes, until the late 19th century all dyes were made naturally through plants, insects or shellfish—the art of natural dyeing thrived in the Indian subcontinent.

Indigo, sourced from the indigofera flowering plant, creates blues and greens and is considered ‘magical’ because it lends itself to a range of hues and all kinds of fibres. Santanu Das, for Kolkata-based sustainable label Maku, uses only natural indigo: “It is a difficult colour to work with, but it is also neutral and liked by all. It cannot be controlled—it is impossible to get an identical shade. That by itself is human and philosophical. It forces you to understand the limitations of a medium and craft and to take a step forward.”

While India has perfected colours like red and black—made from madder root and iron filings respectively—and in combination with other substances created hundreds of natural tints, Das believes that the natural shade card of India comprises “the seven different colours of white”. He adds, “We have a huge culture of wearing undyed things: dye is a luxury, as is pattern and printing.”

A number of Indian designers today have embraced kora (undyed) fabric and natural dyes as a part of their sustainable fashion initiatives as a manifesto, like Goa-based OmArts; as a part of capsule collections like Ahmedabad-based Tilla; or comprising a large portion of the collections, like Mumbai-based Anavila Misra’s linens (for label Anavila) which showcase undyed fabric or natural indigo, while other pieces use Azo-free chemical dyes.

Screen Shot 2018-07-24 at 1.12.25 PM

Today, in India, centres and artisans in Kutch, Bengal, Goa, Pondicherry and Hyderabad among others are working with natural dyes. In the sustainable fashion collections showcased at Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort ’18 under the Usha Silai label, Amit Vijaya and Richard Pandav teamed up with women who are known for their work in natural dyes from a region near Jaipur.

Rekha Bhati and Nikki Kali of Kishmish, who work with the NGO Kala Swaraj, believe, “Everything has energy. If the process of making a garment is thoughtful, with kindness to the planet, you can feel it when you wear it.” Besides being good for the environment, naturally-dyed fabrics are a healthier option. Kolkata-based designer Divya Sheth points out, “Dyes penetrate our bodies; natural dyes like those made from turmeric and madder are not only therapeutic but also nourish and replenish the skin.”

But a naturally-dyed garment is not without challenges. Das, who dyes yarn in his workshop before sending it out for weaving, says, “There are no shortcuts for natural dyes—people don’t like to use them because it is a nightmare to work with them. The colour bleeds and fades. They cannot retain the colour ever after.” Sheth, who uses natural dyeing for 85 percent of her textiles, agrees that the process is tricky. “There’s a scarcity of artists, it is a tedious and laborious (manual) process. The colours change batch wise — the inconsistency means that no two garments would ever be the same. As much as we love this, some unaware clients take this as a defect.”

Soham Dave for his eponymous Ahmedabad-based sustainable label that works with Kutch-based artisans for dyeing avoids chemical dyes as much as possible. He stresses upon thinking about the entire process of production over dyes in isolation. He admits that the natural dyeing process is more expensive, as it involves a lot of rejection and handling, with dependency on the unpredictability of nature—wind or pollutants in water may impact the production. He says, “I have not come across many successful ways to mass produce it.”

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Scale perhaps is the biggest consideration of naturally-dyed garments, along with the considerable need for freshwater. Ruby Ghuznavi, activist and advocate for craft and natural dyes in Bangladesh, points out in a conversation with colour specialist Fiona Coleman in an interview on The Kindcraft, an independent online magazine, “There is a limit to the capacity you can produce. If you increase the capacity, there’s a danger you’ll lose the quality. And because we’re starting to make our colour solution from scratch every morning, there are a lot of points at which the process can go wrong. The minute you start making 1,000 pieces instead of 100, maybe one or two will not be colourfast.”

Designers like Aratrik Dev Varman of Tilla grapple with how a naturally-dyed garment is perceived in the market. Says Dev Varman, “You have to tell people to expect natural blemishes and fading of colours. It would be misleading to compare it to something that is chemically dyed in a factory. The challenge is educating and convincing people that despite all this, it is still a better product.” A consumer who has been conditioned to appreciate industrial homogenised products and accept it as the benchmark of perfection and quality is unlikely to embrace the uniqueness of a handmade, naturally-dyed garment which will age gracefully.

And yet, Coleman on The Kindcraft, perhaps referring to a more evolved British consumer with regard to sustainability, believes that education has changed customers and, if it is marketed as a natural product or a natural dye, the consumer would be happy to have that inconsistency. That may be a sign of things to come in India. In the standardised Pantone world of today, the variations that are seen in a naturally-dyed fabric are a call to celebrate the beauty of imperfections, just as nature would have it.

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Brief Timeline Of Natural Dyes In The Indian Subcontinent

2600 BCE Natural dyeing techniques developed during the Indus Valley civilisation and spread worldwide through trade routes.

1498
 Vasco da Gama discovered the maritime route to India. Indigo was the first valuable ‘spice’ to be exported by Portuguese traders.

Mughal Era (16th-18th centuries)
 Natural dyeing techniques developed finesse under the patronage of the Mughal emperors, who particularly loved indigo which gave the popular blues and greens.

The 19th century Bengal became the world’s main source of indigo.

1856
 The discovery of aniline dyes by British scientist William Henry Perkin, and their spread to colonial countries. It led to post-independence India no longer retaining its tradition of natural dyes except in a few rural communities.

1859
 Unjust production methods led to the Blue Mutiny during the British Raj.

1897
 German company BASF launched the synthetic ‘Indigo Pure BASF’ in the market.

The 70s
 Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay initiated the movement for the revival and promotion of natural dyes in India (and Bangladesh).

1990 Activist and advocate for craft and natural dyes, Ruby Ghuznavi, started fair-trade organisation Aranya in Bangladesh, which has 3000 artisans.

2009 
Dr Himadri Debnath, deputy director of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) in Kolkata, found a unique 15-volume set (with 3500 samples) of Specimens of Fabrics Dyed with Indian Dyes compiled by British Victorian dyer Thomas Wardle, which was believed to have been lost.

2013
 Colours of Nature, Auroville—which began manufacturing natural blue jeans with organic indigo dye and local cotton yarn in 1993 collaborated with Levi’s to launch the first truly organic 511 jeans.

— Compiled from Marg’s Colours of Nature: Dyes From The Indian Subcontinent (December 2013)

Examples of Sources of Natural Dyes

Blue and Green: Indigofera plant, neel and woad leaves, girardinia fibre.

Red: Cochineal, lac insect, root and bark of mulberry, madder root, henna leaf, red beet, sappan, red sandalwood, walnut shell, bark and leaf, Indian almond tree bark.

Yellow: Himalayan rhubarb root, marigold flower, pomegranate peel, mango, lodh, saffron, turmeric, ivy bark, cotton flower, teak leaf.

Purple: Muricidae sea snails, logwood.

Brown: Octopus, cuttlefish, cutch tree, amla, ginger root.

Black: Iron and jaggery, sal bark, marking nut.

QUICK CARE TIP

A naturally-dyed garment needs personal care. Hand-wash with cold water using a mild detergent, or better yet, reetha (Soapnut).

 

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